Objective: Secure & private password management, prevent anyone from stealing your passwords.
Option 1: Store Keepass PW file in personal cloud service like OneDrive/GoogleDrive/etc , download file, use KeepassXC to Open
Option 2: Use ProtonPass or similar solution like Bitwarden
Option 3: Host a solution like Vaultwarden
Which would do you choose? Are there more options ? Assume strong masterpassword and strong technical skills
Keepass on phone, desktop and tablet. Sync serverless via Syncthing.
- completely private
- always available when needed
- no dependency on services which may go away
- all open source software
- maximum security
Yup. Same system here. I really like it.
Same here. Home server to which desktop and phone connect with OpenVPN.
Check out tailscale (or headscale)
It lets you connect those devices without necessarily sending all data through your home network when you are remote. (Though that is an option along with many other great features like ssh authentication)
It also uses WireGuard for the backend which is more secure and efficient than openvpn.
Thx! Will check out.
Keepass + syncthing.
Don’t let your vault go unencrypted through the cloud.
Your vault is always encrypted very securly except when in RAM. There is no security concern with uploading it directly to the cloud.
It’s encrypted at rest with a passphrase. Syncthing encrypts it at transit with a random key.
There is a huge difference on the security of those.
Keepass allows you to use a passphrase in combination with a randomly generated keyfile. You only need to copy the keyfiles to your devices once (not via cloud services, obviously). Your actual database can then be synchronized via any cloud provider of your choice (hell, you could even upload it publicly for everyone to see) and it would still be secure.
I’m very happy with self-hosted Vaultwarden.
Keepass fIle in my own nextcloud instances, synced to my phone so I can also use keepass2android. This way if something happens I at least have another copy of it, beyond my backup system.
that’s actually exactly how I have my setup. I just use syncthing to keep everything dynamically backed up as I add passwords. my main login password is memorized and not written down anywhere so I think I’m good
I do the same, but synced to Dropbox from computers and phone.
I have the Proton password manager as well but not sure yet if I’ll do a full swap over.
I use option 1 with Syncthing for a distributed cloud solution
Ditto, but with Resilio Sync.
Same, works like a charm!
Vaultwarden behind mutual tls and reverse proxy and https://github.com/oguzhane/bitwarden-mobile until https://github.com/bitwarden/mobile/pull/2629 is merged
But honestly all services you mentioned are worthy.
Anything that fits your needs imao
That PR might be a while…
https://github.com/bitwarden/mobile/pull/2629#issuecomment-1731457466Considering that android is going to prevent users from importing a CA
Edit:
Wait, I think I have my wires crossed.
I think android is removing the ability for apps to install certs.
The user has to manually install a cert, and then select it in the appEdit again:
Yeh, this is what I was thinking of:
https://httptoolkit.com/blog/android-14-breaks-system-certificate-installation/But, thinking about it now, I doubt it will actually affect the feature
“But, thinking about it now, I doubt it will actually affect the feature”
It will not
We don’t need to import a custom CA authority here just to insatll a client cert
Using let’s encrypt is a lot easier to deal with on the client side than modifying CAs, although the initial set up of the server can be a pain in the ass if you’re new to it.
I used to self host Bitwarden, but didn’t want the hassle of securing it and updating it properly and consistently. So I just pay $10 for bitwarden premium and I get to support the company.
Option 1, KeePassXC plus SyncThing, done. Works amazing on all my devices.
I’ve never heard of Syncthing, I use Keepass on Windows and my Android, syncing to Dropbox. If I change to Syncthing is it an easy swap, anything I should watch out for?
Option 2. It’s the most robust. You’ll never lose it (provided you have the redundancy), you can use it offline, you can transfer it using a USB pen, it’s available in all platforms, including web. I’ve been using this for 8+ years, on my phone, desktop, laptop, company computer, etc. I store it on a personal cloud (and on each machine, of course, by syncing).
I’ve used Option 1 with my Nextcloud and it works perfectly. Other options seem more apropriate when you need scale, many user each with their own vault.
Stupid me, didnt even remember using nextcloud instead of commercial clouds. I like it
Host your own bitwarden
Vaultwarden. And take regular back ups. I don’t trust my passwords to be safe anywhere other than my own servers. The chances of my server being hacked is very less.
Option 4: levy existing tools such as gpg and git using something like pass. That way, you are keeping things simple but it requires more technical knowledge. Depending on your threat model, you may want to invest in a hardware security key such as a yubikey which works well with both gpg and ssh.
Why use tools not meant for password management, when alternative tools explicitly meant for password management, which have similar levels of security, work just fine?
You’re essentially saying “instead of driving down the road, I like to ride my bike with rollerblades.”
I have a set up like this (age, passage, & git). Bitwarden’s browser integration works just fine, for the most part. The thing is, some of my passwords are not browser-based, and I spend large amounts of time in the terminal. Using a CLI-tool in this case lets me save a bit of time
Bitwarden has a cli tool which I find pretty useful. Together with jq you can even pipe the password or store it to a variable.
Ah I didn’t know that! Thanks, will be checking it out for sure
It is just how I prefer to do my computing. I tend to live on the command line and pipe programs together to get complex behavior. If you don’t like that, then my approach is not for you and that’s fine. As for your analogy, I see it more as “instead of driving down the road in a car, I like to put my own car together using prefabs”.
I used option 1 (KeePass synced to Google Drive) for years. It’s nice that you know you have control of your passwords at all times, and as long as you can access your cloud storage account and can download a KeePass app, you can get your passwords. It works reasonably well most of the time, but I was consistently running into edge cases that weren’t as smooth as I’d have liked (mostly apps on Android)
I switched to vaultwarden (option 3), and immediately fell in love with things mostly just working. However, since I was hosting it out of my house, I had a bit of a disaster recovery problem. If i had say a fire, I could easily lose all copies of my vault, which would be… suboptimal.
After reviewing the options, I switched to straight bitwarden. I’ve been happy with the experience, and once I have disposable income, I plan to get pro long enough to have emergency contacts available so my family can still get important passwords in case of the worst.
All options have their pros and cons, but IMO password storage is something that deserves to be given proper consideration.
